The Life and Times of The Short One
by Kibaftw
Summary: LekuZeku I don't really like this pairing, but it's cute in its own way...? That I've had on my computer forever now. Basically, Zexy's a messed up kid and Lexeaus is his therapist -nod nod-. Bl, yaoi, shonnen-ai, whatever you prefer, it's man on.....boy?


Ho hum! I'm just a kid and it would cost more in court fees than you would get from me if you sue me for using things that I don't own! Hmph!

Yeah, so, LekuZeku that I kind of write when I feel like it, so tell me what you think and make me want to write……hm?

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A short young boy with purpley-silver hair who was dressed in mostly black and wearing a hooded sweater that covered his hands walked into a room, a room whose every wall was covered with some kind of credential. In the middle of the room, there was a couch with a raised head. Next to the couch was a large man sitting in a padded leather chair. The young boy went over and sat on the couch and looked at the large man. Both waited for the other to attempt to start a conversation.

Eventually, the large man held out his hand to the boy and said, "Hello, I'm Lexeaus, I'm going to be your therapist. Now tell me, why do you need therapy?"

The small boy stared at him. He can't be more than seventeen or eighteen, and he was already in therapy, Lexeaus thought, I wonder what he did to get himself into this. "The court said I needed therapy, I didn't." This rather startled Lexeaus. He made a mental note to read case files even if the age seemed rather iffy and the name looked like a fake. This kid looked to young to have to have been in court, nonetheless to have been given a sentence including therapy.

"So, um, why did you have to go to court?" Lexeaus asked in a rather strained way, as though his patients did most of the talking in these therapy sessions.

"I killed a few people who had it coming to them. The usual." The boy looked rather bored, even as though killing people was something that he did everyday.

"Er, alright, what's your name and what's your life like?" Even Lexeaus knew that he was stuttering by this point, but he did need to get these questions to the boy. He also knew that his questions were rather open ended, even to a point where a therapist should draw a line and make their questions a little more specific, but Lexeaus was the type who listened and gave advice, and not much else.

After a short pause, as though he couldn't remember himself, the boy answered. "My name is Zexion. I have a pretty normal life, I guess. I don't really have a family...or a house. I go to school. I read in my spare time. I'm a rather boring person to have a conversation with." Lexeaus had picked on the main bits of actual usable information, and filed the rest away for later use.

"You don't have a family or a house? What, erm, what exactly do you mean by that?" Lexeaus really wasn't sure, as these things had been thrown out casually, and in the middle of things that really didn't have much priority over something big like that.

"Well, my parents were killed by a fire in our house. It burned to a crisp. I wouldn't let the child services people take me, I didn't trust them. I managed to escape and get a new identity. It was actually pretty easy; I just had to die for two weeks or so. Then I became what I am now, Zexion. Age twenty. I don't remember my real name or age anymore... But that doesn't have any effect over our meetings. But yes, I have no family and no house. I live out of an alley and eat whatever food that I find that's edible and I have a nice piece of tin that keeps the rain off me and my books and my clothes and whatnot."

Lexeaus stared at the boy who looked like he was not a day over fifteen. He didn't think that anyone could get any identification that said he was twenty when he looked this young. Maybe he told the people he had a height defect of something. Lexeaus chuckled to himself at the phrase 'height defect'. Zexion stared at him, then shrugged. He had decided that it was Lexeaus who needed a shrink, not him. What he needed was someone to take care of him and a house to live in. That wouldn't happen until he was older and somehow managed to get a job. He sighed quietly. Then he noticed a large hand being waved in front of his face.

"Hey...Uhm, Zexion? You still in there, buddy?"

Zexion did not think that his therapist was his buddy, but snapped back to reality anyway. "Huh? Oh yeah, I'm here. Obviously."

Lexeaus was starting to like this kid. He never really called anyone buddy, but this kid … wow. He's been through so much and he was still in school. That was just awesome!

"Well, I want you to look at these and tell me what you see." He held up an inkblot.

"Ink," said Zexion after looking at it for a minute or five.

"Er, don't you see any shapes that the ink splats make up?" he asked hopefully. No one had ever not seen a picture in his inkblots before, and he needed the answers to this to determine the boy's personality. Or maybe … maybe he was one of those who prided themselves on not having personality...what were they called...nemo? Yes, that was it. Nemo.

"Hm, Zexion, you really see nothing?" Zexion had been staring at the picture again, with a rather confused expression on his face.

"Correct," he answered.

"I see. Are you depressed?"

There wasn't even a pause. Zexion said, just as calmly as he had said anything else, "Yes."

Lexeaus had never received any immediate reaction from pretty much anyone who had ever sat on that couch. He was so surprised, in fact, it took him a minute to register the actual answer. "I see. May I see your wrist?" Lexeaus reached out to grab Zexion's arm, but the young boy shrunk away.

"I'd ... rather you not. I ... it's just ... uh..." Lexeaus disregarded his protests and grabbed the opposing arm. He dragged it closer to himself. Then he pulled the sleeve back. There on the boy's wrist were many wounds that all looked self-inflicted.

"May I see your other arm?" Lexeaus seemed to hiss out, as though this case was much harder then he had prepared for. Zexion looked the other way and stuck out his arm.

This one was even worse than the left one. 'I guess he's left handed...' Lexeaus thought to himself as he traced a finger across one of the lines that looked fresher than the others. It earned a gasp from the boy. Lexeaus thought that gasp sounded really cute ... oh no, what was he thinking about a patient? He was cute? That was not good ... not good at all…. He'd just have to ignore his feelings. "Your case is much more serious than I imagined. Do you have a reason for hurting yourself?"

Again, the answer was immediate, as though he had to answer this question of himself a million times a day. Lexeaus remembered that he had not wanted to show him his scars. Perhaps he really was ashamed... "Because I want to kill myself ... want to die. The back alley fights ... the things I have to go through when I get home... School just isn't worth living for. I won't die, though. I think there might actually be a plan for me, then. But I don't know ... life is just hard sometimes, you know?" Lexeaus noted that Zexion was being much more open with him now than he was in the beginning. Lexeaus didn't know. Lexeaus had come from a rich family who had paid his way through college and quite a few doctorates. He had never spent one night on the street. He had never even helped others who had, because his prices were quite high. The only reason Zexion could see him was because the state was paying for it.

"No, I don't know. I wish you didn't either, I don't even want to imagine what people who lived on the streets might do with someone as cute as you." Crap. He'd said that last bit out loud. He didn't mean to, it just slipped out. Lexeaus mentally slapped himself again -- hard -- and said "I'm sorry I just--" He was cut off by Zexion, whose face looked rather red. "No, it's okay. People often feel sorry for what they imagine I endure. What they imagine is often better than the truth, luckily enough for their mental states..." Zexion probably didn't mean to be funny, but Lexeaus had, in his mind added, 'Or you'd be a whole lot richer than you are now.' He still didn't know why he found that funny, because it wasn't, but he still had to stifle a small bout of laughter. Zexion looked at him like he was insane ... again.

Lexeaus had no idea what to do. He had read over how much time Zexion was to put in, and there wasn't a set time. It had said 'Until the problems with him have been solved and he is no longer a threat to society or himself.' That sounded impossible to Lexeaus if Zexion had to still live on the streets. "What grade are you in, Zexion? You know what, it doesn't matter. You have identification that says you're twenty-something, right?"

"Yes..." Zexion replied in a way that conveyed how he didn't see what this had to do with anything.

"Well, you and I are going to go out and get a beer. Then we're going to go to where ever it is that you keep your stuff and you're going to put it in my truck, then I'm going to take you--" He was cut off by a yell from Zexion, who had jumped up and began backing away from Lexeaus.

"_No!_ He said I'm not going! I've spent most of my life avoiding them! All of this life! I just can't face them ... don't make me..." Zexion had dissolved into a small boy with no parents who had just been told he needed to board the orphan train. In other words, he didn't want to go.

"No, no, that's not what I'm saying." Lexeaus said as he placed a large hand on to the young boys heaving shoulders. "I want you to come and stay with me. I swear I won't rape you or anything." Not rape, per se ... well, I won't do anything without your permission, how's that? He added in his head.

Zexion looked up at the huge man. "R-really?" he asked, wiping some tears from his face as his expression brightened.

"What, I really won't rape you or I really want you to stay with me?" This time, the blush that spread across Zexion's face had been expected. In fact, Lexeaus just wanted to see him blush again. It made him look so cute!

"Y-you really want me to stay with y-you?" Zexion asked, his voice still shaky from crying when he thought he would have to go with child services and from the most recent humiliation he had just suffered.

"Yes, I think it's the only way to fulfill the court's orders." When Lexeaus said this, Zexion seemed to look slightly disappointed for some reason, but only for a millisecond. Then he stood up and bowed deeply to Lexeaus and said, in his most mature and adult sounding voice, "Thank you very, very much. I shall forever be in your debt, as there is no way I can repay you." Lexeaus could think of a few ways for Zexion to repay him, but decided not to voice his ideas.

"Geez, that's the first time one of my patients ever bowed to me!" He let out a deep bark of laughter that seemed to echo in the oddly shaped room. "Well, let me see your I.D. I just wanna check something." Zexion grabbed his wallet out of his back pocket and dug in it for a few seconds before producing a very real looking I.D., which he handed to Lexeaus. Lexeaus examined it to find that Zexion's legal age was twenty-four.

"Sweet! This will work, so let's go get us a beer and your stuff. You wanna go to a bar or...?"

Zexion stared at him. It was as though he didn't understand a word that had just come out of his mouth. "Uhm, pardon my ignorance, but what's beer? And what's a bar?" Lexeaus loved him at that moment for his innocence. Even though his I.D. said he had been able to drink for three years, he still didn't know much about it. Squashing his desire to hug Zexion, Lexeaus instead said "Oh, you'll see little buddy, you'll see." And then headed for the door with Zexion at his heels.

Lexeaus decided to take Zexion to a bar, so he could get his first taste of beer in the "proper environment". When they arrived, a few people said hello to Lexeaus. He apparently came here a lot. And because they knew Lexeaus, they were rather worried when he appeared to be bringing a small child into a bar. "Hey, is he yours?!" some random nameless person jeered out from near the back of the bar. Lexeaus let out a boom of laughter, though his smile didn't each his eyes this time, and continued on his way to the stools near the bartender. "Two beers please, one for me and one for my friend here." Lexeaus put his arm around Zexion and looked at the bartender as though daring him to check his I.D. The bartender, apparently, always took up dares.

"Uhm, you sure he's twenty-one, Lexeaus? He looks ... three." You have to think, in the bar keeping business, if you weren't twenty-one or older, you didn't matter. Three-year-olds don't matter. Thus his connection.

"Yeah, he is. Here, Zexion, flash him your I.D." Zexion did as he was told. The bartender looked from the card up to Zexion and then back to the card. He checked the I.D. in anyway he knew how, then decided it was authentic and produced two beers.

"You know, you look really young. Good for you," the bartender said, then walked away to take the orders of some people who had just arrived. Zexion beamed. He knew he wasn't old enough to have beer and he was going to drink it anyway.

"Well, bottoms up." Lexeaus said, more to himself then to Zexion, and slurped his whole beer down. Zexion stared at the yellowish liquid in his goblet for a while, and then did the same.

It seemed that as soon as the ale touched his lips, he became drunk. A bright pink color flushed across his face as he finished the last few drops. He was totally shit-faced. "Hey, I know you," he said, pointing at Lexeaus.

"Yes, yes you do. So just let me-" and he grabbed Zexion off the stool and dragged him to his truck. Zexion didn't put up a fight, luckily enough, and was set gently down in the passenger seat as Lexeaus walked around to the other side.

"You shouldn't drink and drive." Zexion said as Lexeaus checked to be sure the doors were closed and put a key into the ignition.

"I'm not drunk." Lexeaus said in his calmest and most soothing voice.

"Buzzed driving is drunk driving," Zexion muttered just as he dozed off. If this was a cartoon, Lexeaus would've sweat dropped, as he needed Zexion to tell him where the stuff he had to get for him was. Luckily enough, Zexion woke up 30 seconds later yelling "IT WASN'T ME DAMMIT!" at which point he looked around to see Lexeaus sitting there and he seemed to regain some control over his drunken self and said "I live near the intersection of 9th and 5th." Lexeaus had absolutely no clue where that was. He figured it was probably pretty far away, as he knew most of the streets near his office and near his house.

"Uhm, do you know how to get there?" Zexion said he did and proceeded to give him directions, only with the occasional drunken mistake. They arrived there after an hour's drive and Lexeaus wondered how Zexion has managed to get to his office, and then decided that he'd rather not know. You never really know what kind of deals people could make out here.

"Okay...lead the way." Lexeaus said after he parked the car. Zexion stepped out of the car and tittered down the street. They arrived at the alley he had been talking about earlier and said "Er, Lexeaus...would you do me a favor and walk ahead of me? This alley ... filled with ... you look like you could take care of yourself ... protect..." Zexion trailed off into inaudible mutters, but Lexeaus complied and walked ahead off the younger boy. All the while they walked down the alley that smelled like urine, Lexeaus noticed that there were many people who seemed to want to jump him and steal his money or kill him or rape him or whatever else, but they all seemed to shrink away when they saw Zexion. Then it hit him. Zexion had not been muttering about how he could protect Zexion, but rather how Zexion could protect him. Then it hit him again. There was a reason he'd been sent to him. He'd killed people, probably people like the ones he was looking at now, so they were all afraid of him. Lexeaus was rather pleased with the fact that such a small person could invoke fear in people so much bigger than him.

Not that Lexeaus knew what it was like to be short and un-muscled. He had been born very large and had stayed that way throughout his life and, seeing as he was so tall, had worked on getting muscles to go with it. He was terrifying at first sight, but then you noticed that he really looked a bit silly. Then you talked to him and noticed that he WAS a bit silly. But anyway.

Zexion was, at that moment, preoccupied with sending death glares to anyone who looked at Lexeaus in anyway but with curiosity. That meant basically everybody. His eyes were starting to get tired from being so terrifying for the past few minutes. 'He's mine, back off, Bitch' was the signal that he sent out mentally to everyone his eyes met. It did manage to make then shrink away, and he smirked to himself.

"Stop." Zexion said when they reached the place where his stuff was. Lexeaus noticed that this area of the alley didn't smell nearly as bad as the rest of it, and it looked a bit better too. There was an alter, a small one, admittedly, with a picture off three people who all looked very happy and were standing in front of a nice house. Smaller than the one Lexeaus had grown up in, but still an okay size. Lexeaus couldn't help but wonder who had taken the picture, and how it had managed to survive the fire, but decided not to question anything at this point. It was like some sadistic person had deleted the chapter in his life where he settled down with a nice guy and adopted some kids and raised a family and replaced it with more work.

Zexion began to gather up all of his meager possessions. He threw the piece of tin down the alley, where it was quickly eaten up by shadows. Lexeaus thought that this was the other people who lived there grabbing at it, as it did keep the rain off, and refused to think any more of it. After a few minutes, Zexion had all of his things packed into a milk crate which had before served as his chair and a small pile off books that didn't look like they'd only been in the alley for a few years, they looked as though they had been there for millenniums. But, hey, Zexion really wanted to bring them.

'What the heck, I have a truck.' Thought Lexeaus as he carried half of Zexion's stuff to the said truck and placed it carefully in the bed. Zexion followed close behind him and attempted to do the same thing Lexeaus had done. He could barely even reach the rim of the truck's bed, and he began to get frustrated at the fact that he was short, yet again. Nobody let him forget he was short. It was always 'Hey, Zexion, could you hand me that on that top shelf? Oh, wait, never mind! I forgot, you're short! Hahahaha!' It annoyed the hell out of Zexion.

Just as Zexion was getting ready to throw the things up into the bed, Lexeaus walk over and gently removed the items from his hands and set them down in the trucks bed just as gently. Then we walked around and got in on the driver's side. He was glad to see that Zexion was not so wasted that he'd pass up a chance to get angry at something that nobody over 6' would ever understand.

The drive back to Lexeaus' house was uneventful, as Zexion had suddenly decided that he had identity problems and stuck his head out the window like a dog. Lexeaus decided it was just because he didn't get to ride in cars often. They got to his house around 8:00 and Zexion looked ... like Zexion. He just kind of stood there and seemed to drink the house in.

The house was large and painted in bright colors. Zexion began to wander room to room, as though in search of something. He appeared to have found it, as Lexeaus heard a door slam shut and a minute or two later heard the sound of a toilet flushing and running water. Lexeaus chuckled to himself. Then he mentally chided himself, Zexion didn't have a bathroom where he had lived before.

Zexion came back out and stared at Lexeaus again. He didn't seem to have anything to do. Lexeaus decided it was time to find him a room. "Follow me..." Lexeaus said vaguely as he swept past Zexion and went to the door on the farthest right down the entrance hall. He opened said door and inside the room was a bedroom with an attached bathroom. "You can sleep here, it's the guest room. Er, there's a bathroom right there, –" (he gestured toward the door close to the bed) "– and a closet over there, –" (he pointed to the other side of the room) "– and, of course, the bed," he said, and pointed to the center of the room where there was one of the biggest beds Zexion had ever seen. But that wasn't really saying much as Zexion had seen very few beds in general. That he could remember anyway.

"Er, if you're tired already, you can just go to sleep. If not, I have ... Monopoly?" Lexeaus said, as if he really had absolutely no clue what is was that he had. He was willing to bet that he had Monopoly, though. It was a nice game, took forever though.

"Sure, let's play." Zexion said coolly as he walked back toward the main entrance hall, though he really had no clue where he was going.

"Erm... This way..." Lexeaus said as he hurried in front of Zexion to lead him off in the right direction. They arrived in the game room after wandering around, seemingly aimlessly, for about 3 minutes. "Here." Lexeaus seemed to be a man of little words, as that was the only thing he had said within those 3 minutes.

'Peh. Weird for a therapist. Or maybe it makes him a good listener...?' Zexion thought as he wandered around in the room. He managed to find the board games without much trouble, but there was a small problem. They were up on a shelf. Zexion quietly cursed the rest of the world and all its tall inhabitants who seemed to like to make a mockery of his height with things that may or may not have been on purpose.

Lexeaus seemed to notice that something was wrong. He snapped out of his reverie (what he was thinking cannot be put on paper for fear of lawsuits for supporting pedophilia. Ok, it's just because I'm too lazy to type out a sex scene, happy now?) and stalked over. "Ah, there it is." He reached up and grabbed the box off the lowest shelf with no problem at all. Then he appeared to ignore the half drunken death glare he was receiving from the person who couldn't reach the box if he had jumped.

Lexeaus walked over to the coffee table and placed it in the middle. He grabbed up his favorite moving piece (the thimble o-o) and set the game up. "You wanna be banker?" Lexeaus asked the still brooding teen, who seemed to lighten up at his words.

"No, I don't think in my current condition I could tell a ten from a million dollar bill." Zexion smiled for the first time (well, in a non-drunken way, he had seen his drunken smile. Shit eating, it was. And he wasn't beaming; it was just a casual smile. Like the ones you faked at people to make then think you weren't depressed.) and it blew Lexeaus away.

His eyes crinkled up and it turned out he had small dimples, but they were still there. "You know, you look really cute when you smile," Lexeaus said as he put the money into the correct spots. He didn't look up, but he could practically feel the heat radiating from Zexion and knew the younger male was bushing. Again. Deeply. Most likely helped along by the alcohol that was running through his system.

The game was set up after another moment or two. "Here, pick a piece." Lexeaus held out a small box with a bunch of twisted silver pieces in them. Zexion stared at the box for a couple seconds, then dug his hand in and drew out a dog. 'That's my bitch!' Lexeaus joked inwardly. Zexion had this strange expression as he set it down, but it was quickly replaced with his normal (albeit drunken) blank face. "You go first," Lexeaus said as he handed the dice to Zexion. Zexion stared at the small numbered cubes in his hands like he had never seen such a device before, or if he had, didn't remember what to do with them.

Realization happened upon his face a moment later, and threw the dice across the board. "Double sixes! Twelve spaces!" Zexion looked like he lacked the motor skills to pick something up and move it at this point, so Lexeaus moved it for him. "Gerroff my bitch…." Zexion grumbled drunkenly, mostly to himself. Then he chuckled at his own joke.

Lexeaus found it amusing that Zexion appeared to have the same (perverted) sense of humor he did. "Oh? You got a problem with me grabbing your dog?" Zexion chuckled even more, and Lexeaus joined right in.

Zexion then stood up and walked around the table to Lexeaus, who now looked frightened. Then he reminded himself that the kid was drunk and unpredictable, and managed to calm himself down. Then Zexion did something to make him go right up. He had tackled Lexeaus to the floor saying "No, I don't mind if you grab my dog," hoarsely into his ear.

Zexion then began to run his hands up and down Lexeaus chest. It made Lexeaus moan deeply and gutturally, which seemed to give Zexion the will to continue on, as then he attempted to take Lexeaus shirt off, but that's when Lexeaus stood up. "Hey, kid. You're drunk and need sleep if you're trying to have sex with someone you just met." Lexeaus grabbed the horny Zexion up off the floor and carried him into the bedroom where he was supposed to sleep. "My room's the nest one over. We'll discuss your behavior when you aren't drunk off your rocker." Lexeaus said as he tucked the already asleep child-like figure of Zexion into the deep expanse of softness commonly referred to as a bed. "Heh, give a man a bed and a beer and he'll sleep well for the first time in years." Lexeaus muttered to himself as he closed the door quietly and made his way over to his own bedroom.

In the morning, Lexeaus rose like the stupid freaking morning person he was. Zexion, however, didn't. The fact that he was more of a "stay up all night and sleep in class to avoid sneak attacks from the people in the alley" kind of person was made worse by the fact that he was a horrible drunk and needed at least 12 hours of sleep after so much as a sip of any kind of liquor, including sparkling cider, which actually has no alcohol in it. But Zexion doesn't know all this. Yet.

After Lexeaus took a shower, ate breakfast, read the paper and fed his fish, he went to wake Zexion. The young boy was splayed across his bed, extending all his limbs as far as they would go. Lexeaus licked his lips, then was forced to slap himself. The things he was thinking…they were not just "friendly".

Lexeaus eventually pulled himself together and walked over to the bed. He places a hand on the boy's shoulder, no mean feat as it was buried deep within the mattress and comforters, and shook him gently. "Hey, sleeping beauty! Time to wake up!" Lexeaus said loudly into one on Zexion's upturned ears. Zexion mumbled incoherently and began to move. Then he looked up at Lexeaus expectantly. "Leave." He said in a voice that would not be surprising if it was found on an army officer. "I'm not wearing any pants."

Lexeaus headed to the door. Not that he liked being ordered around his own house, or that the blunette's argument had actually made him want to leave, but that was what Zexion was comfortable, so there.

With the approximate grace of a drunken two legged spider, Zexion stumbled over to the clothes he had abandoned the night before. He was really not sure how he had gotten into the bed, nonetheless how he had managed to become stark naked. In fact, he really couldn't remember much of what had happened yesterday. He did remember Lexeaus, though. He just didn't really remember what had happened with him last night.

That idea both scared and excited him. He exited the room with slightly more grace than he had left the bed, after he had dressed of course, and staggered down the hallway to where he smelled coffee and pancakes. He had always enjoyed pancakes.

"Ah, he lives!" Lexeaus said merrily as Zexion appeared in the doorframe. "Had a bit too much to drink last night, I wager?" As Zexion stumbled over to the table, narrowly avoiding falling flat on his face twice, and slumped into a chair, resting his head on his folded arms and groaning at the suddenly very loud voice, Lexeaus' question was answered. "Well, I got a cure for that!" Lexeaus declared loudly, causing Zexion to wince. "Oops, sorry." Lexeaus muttered as he looked through the cabinets.

"Aha…" he said quietly, holding a small carton of something or other. He poured some boiling water into it. He handed the now steaming cup of ramen to Zexion. "Give it three minutes, then put an ice cube in it, and eat it." He said somberly, as if he knew exactly what he was talking about. Zexion didn't life his head, but nodded anyway.

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If you actually read that, I love you to pieces! If you review, I'll eat the pieces! –grins madly-


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